CAC Board Members’ Bios- Summer 2010 Page 2

Ben Meade, CAC Center Director Kennedy Space Center

Why Join CAC: NASA relies on teamwork across the agency to succeed. It is necessary to get real experience in cross agency communications.

Hobbies: Mountain biking, pilot training, aerobatics, SCUBA, disc golf, church, building contraptions for fun, surfing, exercising, and trying my best to experience and enjoy the local flavor of wherever I find myself.

Favorite Co-op Memory: I have had two co-op experiences that stand out above all others. The first is seeing the STS-129 launch and listening to the crew presentations afterwards. The pilot for that mission was Barry Wilmore. He attended TN Tech and majored in EE. My second top experience is witnessing the first launch of the Falcon 9.

Ari Mahpour, CAC Center Director Jet Propulsion Laboratory

School: California State University, Northridge

Ari Mahpour, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Major: Computer Engineering

Hometown: Palo Alto, CA (Silicon Valley)

Why are you interested in CAC: I am interested in CAC because I feel that the need for a student body representing NASA is a must. There needs to be interaction between students both within and between NASA centers. CAC facilitates this and encourages other students to get involved. Most importantly, programs such as CAC helps students meet and network with other students like themselves to enrich their work experience and help them gain the confidence they need to become full-time workers.

Hobbies: Music is an integral part of my life. I play six instruments and always have my iPod going. The hardest part about being so immersed in music is the realization that popular music is not and probably never will be like it used to be. It is quite difficult to sort through all the “noise” that contemporary musicians produce. The upside to this is that there is a lot of ‘old goodies’ to explore and it would take a lifetime to get tired of it all.

Emily Kollin, CAC Center Director Johnson Space Center

Hi! I’m Emily Kollin and I am from Cleveland, Ohio. I attend the Ohio State University where I am majoring in

Emily Kollin, Johnson Space Center

Aerospace Engineering. During my fourth NASA co-op tour at Johnson Space Center, Houston, I joined the CAC as the CAC Center Director of Johnson Space Center. I think CAC is a great way for the students at each participating NASA center to make personal connections with each other as well as show off what kind of awesome opportunities they have while working at NASA as a student employee. I hope CAC is able to make the entire co-op network feel more like a community. In my free time, I enjoy sleeping in, shopping, kayaking, and hanging out with all of the friends I have made co-oping. My best co-op experience thus far has been when a few other JSC co-ops and I road-tripped from Houston to KSC for the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) in November 2009. It was a great experience viewing the launch and having a vacation rom work in Flordia.